How to Effectively Fight for your Right to Smoke Cigars
One of the most awe inspiring historical events is the last stand of the Spartans at Thermopylae. At that narrow pass, 300 Spartans (plus some other lesser known Greeks) held off the combined might of the Persians, which purportedly numbered in the millions, long enough to let the Greeks regroup and launch a proper counterattack. Due to the bravery of those brave few, democracy survived Xerxes onslaught.
Fast forward to today and we have a story that is kind of, sort of similar to that famous last stand. Every day you smoke cigars. These cigars are carefully made by skillful artisans in far flung lands that you have probably never visited. In fact, according to Jose Blanco from La Aurora, which happens to be the factory I recently visited, over 200 people are involved in cigar making process. Honestly, when you consider the gigantic operation it takes to take a cigar from seed to your humidor it is mind boggling.
And let me be clear, when I say that over 200 people are involved in the cigar making process I mean over 200 people come in direct contact with the tobacco that comprises your premium cigars. That is 200 lives that are improved by the mere fact of taking part in making your cigars.
Like the fabled Sword of Damocles, cigar taxes and bans threaten these people’s livelihoods. With each new assault on cigars, more and more of these humble craftsman lose their jobs. We are reaching a tipping point where, due to the religious fervor with which politicians attack our noble pastime, these people are losing their jobs.
Cigar factories have almost completely disappeared from America. I fear that with the zealous advance of cigar taxes and bans both here in America and internationally that there will come a time when many of the people who are now employed in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and many other countries in Latin America will eventually lose their jobs.
It does not take an immense imaginative leap to claim that with the loss of relatively lucrative jobs working in a cigar factory that these people will have to find well-paying jobs elsewhere, like in America. Now, I’m not one of those “open borders” people but I can definitely appreciate the fact, and it is a fact, that desperate people will risk a lot to improve their lot in life.
So, if they lose their cigar factory jobs in the Dominican Republic, they are likely to move to someplace where the job prospects are better; like America. Now, I know that you, my fellow Brothers of the Leaf, don’t need any more convincing that cigar taxes and bans are stupid. But others might need a little nudge to oppose these draconian measures against cigars.
Here’s the point. The next time you have one of those nattering nay-bobs pouncing on you for smoking a premium cigar you need to come at them with a different tact. Instead of using the all-too legitimate standby of cigar smoking being a right you need to come at them with the negative economic impact that cigar taxes and bans will thrust upon the world.
Tell them that each time the government suppresses cigar smoking, jobs will be lost abroad and domestically. Tell them that whenever another city bans cigar smoking in a bar they are eliminating jobs domestically and internationally. And that those lost jobs in Honduras will lead to those displaced workers plying their trade in America. Do those proponent of cigar bans really want more people flooding across the border? Didn’t think so.
It is actually quite simple. Whenever you encounter someone who is all for another cigar tax or ban just tell them of the economic repercussions of their stance. The whole “rights” argument just doesn’t penetrate their bigoted minds. You have to hit closer to home. Make it personal for them.
Cigar Links 5-29-2010
On my trip to the Dominican Republic one of the conversations centered around how to help out fellow cigar bloggers. There was a vote for a blog network but most of the talk was about linking to other bloggers’ good posts. So, without further ado, here is the inaugural Cigar Links post from The Perfect Draw.
Cigar Posts of Note
- A Cigar Smoker’s Journal has a series of posts about the La Aurora cigar factory tour broken up into days: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Final Thoughts. As always, Bary’s posts are well worth reading.
- The Stogie Guys have some exciting news from La Aurora.
- Over at the Tampa Cigar Examiner Tom Ufer gives a rundown of Los Blancos Cigars’ offerings.
- Adam from Fire up that Cigar reviews the Rocky Patel Decade Edicion Limitada.
I hope you like these posts because I plan on doing them every week.
Want to Lose More Jobs? Ban Cigars
Seriously, it’s that simple. If your economy is getting a little overheated (and who’s isn’t?) and you need to apply the brakes a little to prevent a bubble from occurring then all you have to do is ban cigars. Just like the brilliant mayor of Orange County, Florida, the honorable Richard Crotty.
Apparently without any public hearings or prior publicity, Orange County Mayor Richard T. Crotty secretly signed an executive order late last year that has kept tens of millions of dollars from pouring into the local economy. At the same time, the jobs of thousands of county workers are being threatened, according to the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.
Crotty signed an executive order that prohibits tobacco use by anyone in any workplace or public area on or in county property. The order was effective January 1, 2010. In addition, county employees are required to sign a ‘Tobacco Usage’ affidavit that swears they don’t smoke or be subject to a $25 fee per pay period – up to $650 per year. The alternative is for the employees who choose to smoke more than four cigars per year to quit their jobs.
From: PR Web
If you are a cigar smoker in this little slice of fascist heaven you risk losing your job because you partake in a legal activity.
According to Tom Ufer from the Tampa Cigar Examiner, this ban, which includes a ban on smoking cigars in many outdoor locations, comes on the heels of an indoor ban.
Several major cities, including Orlando, reside in Orange County and the local economy heavily relies on tourism.
The ordinance now outlaws the use of any tobacco product in areas such as outdoors at the Orange County Convention Center, County parks, fishing docks, boat ramps, outdoor trails, county owned parking lots, streets and sidewalks.
From: Tampa Cigar Examiner
Let’s recap the carnage: Orange County, Florida is fine with losing workers who smoke cigars and don’t want to pay the fine. They are also OK with losing cigar smoking tourists, which will lead to some more job losses. Also, according to Tom Ufer’s article, Orange County is using $6.6 million from stimulus funding to pay for this draconian anti-smoking law. If you keep track, that stimulus money was meant to spur job growth, not fund anti-smoking, Nazi block watchers.
And this from a county that is suffering some pretty bad unemployment numbers too! Yup, it’s over 12% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But smell that clean Florida air!
Unless you like losing jobs and tax revenue then it would probably be a good idea to oppose bans like this one. Just to get you on the right track you can oppose this ban by going on over to Tom’s article where he has so thoughtfully put up a list of the people who have a say over this ban: Orange County, FL politicians.
Orange County, Florida: Mayor Crotty bans use of tobacco products
Cuban Stock Royal Selection Cigar Review
This cigar was sent to me by the Cuban Stock Cigar Co.
Alright, this is the third one of these that I am about to smoke. I really liked the first two so I have high hopes for this one as well.
This cigar has a pretty severe box press to it, which is aesthetically interesting. The thing about this Cuban Stock Royal Selection is that the wrapper looks, for lack of a better word, like an old man’s face. It’s got wrinkles, some holes in it and it just plain looks like Clint Eastwood’s face after a week of shooting in the desert. Well, to be fair, a darker complexion Clint Eastwood but I think you get my meaning.
But then you touch it. The wrapper is smooth and sturdy. There is a good helping of oils on it as well. And, if it performs as well as I think it will, the appearance will be of little import.
Cigar Stats
Toro
Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 50
Wrapper: Ecuador
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Price: $25.00 for five cigars
Witching Hour Light!
Spice is one of those flavors that I have come to cherish with all these Cuban Stock cigars I have smoked, this one included. It isn’t the most robust spice out there but the flavors are very enjoyable. It’s a warm spice.
Raisins and leather are strong supporting flavors in this cigar. I am also getting a little bit of coffee as an aftertaste, which is nice.
The draw is open and the burn is good. It is a medium-full bodied cigar, almost in the full bodied range, which is fine by me.
There is some complexity apparent with these cigars. Spice takes on an increasingly stronger roll as the cigar progresses.
91 points
For another take head on over to Beer Review Dude
My La Aurora Cigar Factory Trip
Plumbing problems have a way of making you wish you were someplace else. Last night, after my first trip abroad, I was welcomed by a plumbing problem that, without going into too much detail, couldn’t be solved with even the most forceful application of a plunger. So even though I was glad to be back home I was already wishing I was back in the Dominican Republic where I smoked God only knows how many cigars, drank tons of rum and beer, ate some of the best food I’ve ever had and, more importantly, met some awesome people.
Miami Cigar and Company, which advertises on this blog, set up this junket for a group comprised of mostly cigar bloggers but also a PR guy and a cruise guy (I’ll name names at the end of this post). We were set up at a very nice hotel called the Camp David Ranch. It is set on top of a hill with some amazing sites and is extremely cigar friendly.
The first full day in the Dominican Republic featured a trip to the La Aurora cigar factory. Unless you have seen one of these factories firsthand then there’s little chance you can completely grasp the massive operation it is to make premium cigars. Jose Blanco, one of our gracious hosts and a brilliant cigar man, led the tour. He started us off running… with a test!
After sitting us all in a conference room we were handed baggies with five cigars, each rolled with a unique type of tobacco. Our mission was to figure out the flavors associated with each cigar, its strength and, the really hard part, which country the tobacco hails from. So here I’m sitting, right next to Jose Blanco nonetheless, trying not to look completely like a rube. I think I may have gotten one country of origin right but the big takeaway from that experience for me was that there is still boatloads of stuff I need to learn. (I’ll go into more depth about this seminar in another post since I did learn a tremendous amount about cigars during this exercise and I think you would like to learn about this stuff as much as I do.)
I guess none of us failed that entrance exam horribly enough because we were all allowed to tour the factory and blend our own cigars. Man, now that was an experience. Using the impressions we were able to glean from those five test cigars we were tasked with formulating a blend comprised of any combination from those tobaccos. Then we picked up our tobacco leaves and headed off to bunch them. I was horrible at that. If it weren’t for the guys there basically doing the bunching and rolling for me there is no way I would have ended up with anything that even remotely looks like cigars.
With the filler and binder tobaccos resting in forms we went off to look at all sorts of things. Rollers, curing rooms, a contraption that makes tobacco leaves more pliable, another contraption that rips out stems and so much more. Most of it was very humid but amazing to see. The most apt description of my sense of awe at seeing the complexity of their operation is this: WOW!
After picking my jaw up from the ground we went back to put the finishing touches on our own cigars. I was horrible at that too. Putting a wrapper on a cigar looks simple enough but it’s deceptively complicated. You have to put the wrapper down, then cut it so you’re left with a strip of tobacco, then put the foot of your bunched tobaccos at one end, roll it, apply some glue, roll some more, cut this way, cut that way, twist the extra, cut of the extra, cut the cap from a scrap piece of tobacco, apply some more glue, try to get it on and then, in my case, hand it over to the man who was watching over me so that he could fix it enough so the whole thing didn’t just fall apart. Even though it wasn’t an easy thing to do I had a blast. They even gave me a framed photo of myself rolling the cigar to commemorate the experience.
The rest of our stay in the Dominican Republic was a feast comprised of cigars, rum, cigars, authentic Dominican food, cigars, beer, karaoke and some more cigars. Guillermo León, who is the head of his family’s cigar business, was frequently there and added a great deal to my enjoyment of the trip. All in all it was a great trip and I can’t wait to see another cigar factory. My sincerest thanks to the La Aurora cigar family.
So, who else was on this great trip? Here’s a list:
- Anthony from Puffing Cigars
- Barry from A Cigar Smoker’s Journal
- Bob from Dog Watch Radio
- Juan who is does PR for Drapers
- Mo, the guy who does cruises
- Two Patricks from Stogie Guys
- Tom from Cigar Reader
